Mettur dam reaches full level of 120 ft for second time this year

COIMBATORE: The Stanley Reservoir in Mettur filled up to full capacity for the second time this year on Wednesday.

The water level in the dam, which stood at 119.400 feet on Tuesday, 8 am, gradually increased to reach its full reservoir level (FRL) of 120 feet at around 3.30 am. The dam last reached its FRL on July 16 and remained full for a stretch of around 70 days, before starting to dip. Then, the inflow clocked a maximum of 2.30 lakh cusecs resulting in heavy flooding in Western districts and in the Cauvery basin region.

Following heavy rains in catchment areas on Tuesday, the inflow into the dam surged to around 29,000 cusecs on Wednesday, 8 am and the entire surplus water has been discharged.

Of the entire discharge, 5,000 cusecs was through 16 eye sluices of the dam and 23,000 cusecs through powerhouse tunnel and 500 cusecs for canal irrigation. Further, a flood alert has been issued to people living along the Cauvery River banks.

A joint team of officials from the Public Works Department and revenue department visited some of the low lying residential areas, including Anna Nagar and Periyar Nagar asking people to move to safer areas as a precaution.